Hedge Funds Offer to Buy Up Mt. Gox Customer Claims

A group of hedge funds is offering to buy up claims from bereft Mt.Gox customers for 15% of their value in yen.

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Hedge funds are offering to purchase claims from creditors who lost their Bitcoins when Mt. Gox went bankrupt in 2014.

As the Financial Times reports, four hedge funds have said they are willing to purchase customer claims for 15 percent of the total amount in Japanese yen.

Mt. Gox customers who lost coins face regaining no more than 25 percent of their investments. However, their claim costs were calculated when Bitcoin was trading at around $430, meaning that even a partial refund could now be lucrative.

“The peculiarities of the situation — in which creditors may not be paid out for at least another year along with the striking rise in the market price of Bitcoins since the exchange rate was calculated with respect to the claims, means that a fund willing to take the risk of a long wait could be betting on a payout with huge upside,” said Daniel Kelman, an attorney representing some of the claimants.

Kelman has even set up a dedicated website for those interested in the hedge fund option, mygoxclaim.com, which provides links to funds involved.

Mt. Gox was once the most used Bitcoin exchange in the world. When it was hacked in 2013, approximately 850,000 Bitcoins were stolen, of which only 202,000 were found. It is these 202,000 which will be used to settle all the former exchange customers’ claims.